How can one not be moved by the story of the Saavedra Caicedo triplets? Sofía and Isabella died under the rubble; their parents, Jairo Saavedra and Victoria Caicedo, were found lifeless and embraced. Ana María, the third sister, survived severely injured. From a family of five, only she remained.
How can one not also be moved by José Fernando Patiño searching for days for his father, Darío Patiño Rivera, clinging to every version that said he might be alive in some hospital? He was finally found dead among the rubble. Even from that pain, the journalist had words for others: he thanked rescuers, volunteers, neighbors, and strangers and continued supporting those still searching for their loved ones.
And there are stories that may never have a name. The father with the helmet on, his face weathered by dust and eyes full of tears, waiting in front of the ruins because his son was at a hotel and was to get married this Sunday. The one who does not leave the rubble because his daughter is there and still hopes to hear her. The animals poking their snouts through tiny cavities or staying close to their owners. The children who lost their home, the very one where they ran happily. The families who saw disappear in seconds what took them decades to achieve. Destroyed houses. Vehicles still to be paid off turned into scrap. Businesses built over years reduced to dust. Lifelong savings shattered while debts remain alive.
But even amid that chest-burning pain, something has been happening. Thousands of people began asking themselves the same question: what can I do? The answers appeared in very different forms. Not everyone had money. Not everyone knew how to rescue people. Some had a pot, others a car, a profession, strong hands, a place still standing, or simply a few available hours and a voice of encouragement.
In Bogotá, dozens of citizens have come to El Campín with food, water, and other items to fill tractor-trailers that will be sent to the affected areas. Schools, universities, city halls, governorates, companies, residential complexes, and social organizations have set up their own collection centers. Boxes pass from hand to hand, and each market adds to a much larger chain.
In other places, human chains do not transport food but stones. Neighbors and volunteers spend hours removing rubble, often in silence, hungry and exhausted, trying to open a space where a hand might appear or a voice be heard.
Rubén Artheaga survived the earthquake in Pereira and managed to save his family. Afterwards, he could have devoted himself exclusively to resolving his own emergency. Instead, he ended up voluntarily leading a collection center in the La Lorena residential complex, one of the affected areas of the capital of Risaralda.
In Quibdó, Luis Alberto Rivas Salguero, known as ‘Lucho’ or ‘Poca Lucha’, took that solidarity to the limit. He had managed to get out alive from a damaged structure and also rescued a trapped person. Then he returned to try to help someone else. The building collapsed completely, and he was buried.
Many of his neighbors mobilized to look for him. For hours they removed rubble trying to give Lucho the same help he had offered minutes before to another human being. Around three in the morning, he was found lifeless. His story became one of the most painful of the emergency, but also among those that show how far the decision to help can go.
Solidarity, however, does not always happen amid large rescue operations. Sometimes it smells like freshly baked bread. In Andalucía, Valle del Cauca, a baker saw how the earthquake affected the business on which his livelihood depended. He himself became a victim. But before knowing how he would rebuild his bakery, he made a decision: to start kneading again.
With what he managed to keep, he prepared bread and cookies and went out himself to distribute them free of charge among people who had also lost their homes or had nothing to eat. He could not give back what was lost nor solve their future. He could attend to a need that does not wait: hunger. The gesture is even more powerful because he did not give what he had in excess. He shared precisely when he also had little and when he still did not know how he was going to start over.
The same impulse appeared in Pereira, where a small food place suffered damage but managed to stay standing. Its workers set up pots on the street and continued cooking for those who needed food. Around them were still the remains of the affected buildings.
In Cali, a man who lived in New York for years and worked as a singer turned his backyard into a kitchen. Friends and acquaintances began sending him money from the United States, and he decided to buy food directly in Colombia to speed up the aid.
From there, he prepares lunches for those left with nothing or who cannot cook due to lack of electricity. Besides the rations he distributes in the city, he prepares another hundred to take to rural areas. What was once simply a backyard became a small dining room for strangers.
Also in Cali, Restó CABA, in the San Antonio neighborhood, became a support point for neighbors, rescuers, and victims. Joaquín Rodríguez and Gisele Yiseth Zea made their business available for the emergency and organized a network to produce and distribute food.
From Cáqueza, Cundinamarca, a group of chefs, restaurant owners, and merchants took the road to Cali. For three days, the community dining room ‘Pancitas con Amor’ aimed to cook hot food for the affected families and rescuers still working among the rubble.
More than 40 taxi drivers arrived at the Caquetá Governorate square loaded with more than 100 kilos of supplies. This time their vehicles did not carry passengers. They served to bring markets destined for people they probably will never meet.
There were also those who found a way to help from their profession. William González Betancur, an engineer from Cali, remembered during the emergency that he had a thermal camera he normally uses to inspect metal roofs. He took it to the Capri neighborhood and began inserting it into cavities among the rubble.
One of the images showed heat points and gave hope to those working there. The tool that until then served to measure roof temperatures began to be used to search for possible signs of life.
González temporarily left his work routine and kept going in and out of the area whenever rescue organizations considered the camera could provide useful information. He was not a rescuer, but he found something within his own work that could help.
Other professionals took help to the digital field. A group of engineers created sismoayuda.com, a platform for affected people to upload photos, videos, and the location of their homes and receive initial guidance on the damage.
Within hours, more than 400 Colombian architects and engineers had registered as volunteers to review those reports free of charge. Their work does not replace an official inspection but allows a first filter and helps prioritize buildings that might need urgent attention.
Meanwhile, organizations and citizens in Bogotá set out to fill three trucks with supplies and provisions destined for Chocó. The difficulty does not end when the truck leaves. Some aid will have to continue for hours by car, boat, or even mule to reach the most remote communities.
That is perhaps what best summarizes the reaction of these days; each person has sought to help from what they know how to do or from what they have. A baker kneads. A singer cooks. A taxi driver carries markets. A chef travels hundreds of kilometers. An engineer lends a camera. Four hundred professionals freely offer their knowledge. A neighbor moves a stone.
No one can repair alone the scale of what happened. No one can bring back lost lives or rebuild disappeared houses in an afternoon. But faced with a tragedy that left so many people wondering what they could do, thousands found a simple answer: do something.
And so, amid dust, fatigue, and pain, another image also begins to remain in the memory of these days: that of people who perhaps had never seen each other, and who probably will never meet again, holding a box, a pot, a stone, or a hand to help someone stand up again.
The footballers who wore the ‘10’ of solidarity with the earthquake victims
The earthquake that struck Colombia has also brought out a face of solidarity in national football. Several players decided to go beyond messages of encouragement and mobilize aid for families who lost everything. One of the biggest efforts has been by Jhon Arias, who focused his attention on his native Chocó: between Monday and Wednesday he coordinated flights with doctors, medicines, and supplies, and on Thursday, he sent a truck with 30 tons of aid to the most affected areas.
Arias’s solidarity also became a chain. Through his foundation, he coordinated efforts with organizations and institutions and promoted collection centers in different cities to gather food and essential items. “It is time for everyone to be united,” said the footballer, while his initiative sought to multiply the hands willing to help those left homeless, without food, or facing the loss of their loved ones.
Other leaders of the Colombia National Team also joined. Luis Díaz, through his foundation, reported that he has collected more than eight tons of donations for the victims and asked to maintain solidarity.
James Rodríguez, for his part, announced that through his foundation Colombia Somos Todos he will make contributions to support the recovery and reconstruction of the areas hit by the earthquake, including Cali, Pereira, Manizales, and Quibdó. Initiatives from other footballers, including Jhon Córdoba, have also been known to especially support the department of Chocó.
In days when the numbers of victims and destruction can be overwhelming, the gestures of these footballers have shown another side of the tragedy. This time, their names do not appear for a goal, an assist, or a performance with the National Team, but for something that happens far from the fields: using their recognition and resources to mobilize solidarity and ensure aid reaches Colombians who today need to start over.
From the earthquake in Venezuela to Colombia: a doctor crossed the border to help the victims
Doctor Rawdy Reales Rois, known on social media as Dr. Rawdy, decided to put the reach of his platforms at the service of the victims of the earthquake that struck Colombia. Reales, an internist and endocrinologist and a recognized health content creator, promoted solidarity campaigns through his digital channels to support the affected communities. His professional training and activity as an educator and content creator are publicly documented.
After the tragedy, the doctor used his networks to call for donations and promote the collection of medical supplies, provisions, and other aid items destined for populations hit by the earthquake. The initiative included support for victims in Cali, Chocó, and the Coffee Axis, while needs grew by the hour and thousands of Colombians sought ways to help.
But his contribution was not limited to calling for solidarity. As a doctor, Dr. Rawdy also shared recommendations on how to act after an earthquake, turning his platforms—usually dedicated to explaining medical topics and bringing health information to the public—into a channel to guide and mobilize aid. This facet as a medical communicator is one of the central features of his public career.
Thus, amid a tragedy that left many families needing help, the community Rawdy had built over years around medicine found a different purpose: to become a chain of solidarity. The call was to contribute from each person’s possibilities and ensure that medicines, food, and essential items reached those facing the earthquake’s consequences.
CAROL MALAVER
DEPUTY EDITOR BOGOTÁ
Write to us at carmal@eltiempo.com
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